Progression
by fringeperson
Summary: Do not own characters. Complete. One shot. YoukoRakushun. From their meeting until much later, Youko hasn't ever had a better friend, or one who made her think so much.


Youko was sure that she was seeing things when the grey figure emerged from the rainy, misty landscape, carrying an over-sized leaf like it was an umbrella. Trying to focus before she passed out, she was certain that whoever, or whatever, the figure was, they looked like a giant mouse. She couldn't keep her eyes open though, and she knew this like she knew that she would not trust whoever this giant mouse was. Chances were she wouldn't even have to worry about it though, since it would probably turn her in while she was unable to fight him. She couldn't fight the pull of painless darkness any longer either, and her eyes fell shut. Before she lost herself in the fog of unconsciousness though, she felt hands pulling at her, strong arms picking her up, and the presence of a solid, smooth chest before the rocking of being carried by someone walking lulled her those few final breaths into the darkness of her frightened mind.

She was locked in strange dreams. Sometimes about fighting Sugimoto while a woman who looked like Keiki just watched from a distance. Sometimes she was frozen in place as she watched Asano fall from the cliff over and over and over again. Sometimes she even dreamt of being found by a giant mouse and being carried to an almost run-down looking hut of a cottage by a man with hair a grey three shades darker than the giant mouse. The colour yellow seemed to float about in her mind as well, but only when the more solid dreams, nightmares, or memories did not visit her.

When at last she wakes up, in a strange place in somebody else's bed, slightly tangles in a thin, worn sheet that was probably white before being washed so much turned it grey, Youko panicked. Spotting her sword and the azure jewel, she grabbed them and held them to her tightly. They were all she had now, the last things she could rely on, since she no longer had any friends to speak of.

The grass screen rustled gently, giving Youko less than a second to react before she was faced with whoever it was that had found her this time. She would have slapped herself for seeing things if she were back home. Mice did _not_ grow to be just over a metre tall. Since meeting Keiki and coming here though, particularly with the coming here part, Youko had long forced herself to admit that she was not in Japan any more, and that wherever she was had a completely different set of norms.

Determined to, at the very least, preserve her own life, Youko pointed her sword at the giant mouse.

He'd brought her medicine, he said, and when he drank some first himself, Youko was tempted to trust at least that whatever it was wouldn't kill her, but no. Probably he hadn't actually drunk any, or it was a poison that he was immune to. Still, she couldn't help her thirst. She needed to drink something, so she asked for water, admittedly very bluntly and not altogether politely, but that didn't seem to bother the mouse, since he ran very happily, as fast as his rather stumpy legs could carry him, to fetch her some water.

That was when the damn blue-eyed, mask-toting, monkey-like spirit boy showed up again. She was really beginning to dislike him, the way he was always so negative. She mostly ignored what he said for now, even if she did agree. She didn't like the situation, particularly after being nearly sold by a woman who had such a kind face and motherly air, but there wasn't much she could do about it.

She heard the soldier come to the door, and the mouse, Rakushun he'd called himself, speaking to him. It made sense that he would turn her in. No one here could be trusted. It was odd though that he didn't, that he even went so far as to say he wanted to help her. Despite her distrust, believing what he said about the world she had come to was easy, largely because she knew he had no reason to lie to her, at least about these things.

He, and his mother when Youko finally met her, both had reasons for wanting to help her, it seemed. Honestly, she felt better about giving them a little bit of trust when she understood exactly what selfishness they were committing in their aid of her. For the mouse, she was the excuse to finally leave Kou for En. For his mother, she was glad in the way that only mothers can be to see that her son had finally made a friend – and a "nice girl" at that, even if she was considered a fugitive in Kou.

Actually, the way the mother had acted taught Youko something as well: people like her and hanjyuu like Rakushun _did_ get married in this world. It had been clear to Youko that the older woman had been quietly hoping for something like that, even if not necessarily expecting it, particularly from a kaikyaku who was new to their world and still finding everything strange. Youko had always been a bit better at reading between the lines of what adults wanted to see happen though, even if she wasn't so good at what people her own age wanted from her.

Then the youma had come, and she had killed them, and left the mouse for dead under the body of another man. The damned blue-eyed monkey man had goaded her to return and finish him off, had teased her with unkind words, had impersonated so many people she knew, trying to get under her skin. He succeeded, though not in the way intended. Who deliberately tried to get themselves killed after all? The spirit dead, and the sheath back on her sword, Youko had returned to search for the mouse. She found the Shusei instead, and was grateful that they let her travel with them, even more grateful when one of them returned to the town for her to find out about Rakushun.

He hadn't been there. He must have continued on, to En. It took some time to get to En, and there were a few close calls with the authorities along the way, as well as another bad reunion with Sugimoto and the unfortunate death of a cat hanjyuu on the ship. Youko wasn't happy about either of those, but the second one bothered her more, which she at first found odd, but when she had the rest of the voyage to En to think about why, she realised it was because of her concern for Rakushun, a concern that had grown as she had travelled with the Shusei.

A concern that was relieved shortly after she set foot on En. He was there, waiting for her, apologising for mistakes he thought that he had made. Youko had to make her own apologies as well, but they came to their forgiveness and she embraced him tightly, embarrassing him. She made him blush under his fur a lot that day, though she didn't understand why until much later.

That much later being after she had fought with more youma, met the emperor of En, and learned that she herself was the empress of Kei. It wasn't until she came, all dressed up to meet Shoryu that she discovered that Rakushun was more than just a big mouse. He was also a very handsome guy who looked to be about her age. Sudden realisation of what he had meant those times when he had asked her to show some modesty struck her, and Youko blushed lightly, aware that the way she felt for him, cared for him as her first friend in this world, had just been altered slightly. Silently Youko cursed being a teenager with hormones, but she hadn't had to worry about her period since coming here, which was good at least. When the children of this world came from trees, certain female reproductive parts clearly weren't required to function, it seemed. Youko had to turn away from staring at Rakushun in his very handsome human form, she couldn't let her thoughts wander from her own anatomy to _his_ while still looking at him. Her face was almost as crimson as her hair.

She didn't get to see him much after that. She had to dispose of a false empress, assume her throne, and face ministers who were used to being in charge. A year of that had her ready to run away from her own court. Not form her people or her duty to them, but definitely away from the pompous and dishonest assembly of nobles and ministers.

In her lonely desperation, she had even turned to Keiki. Stick up his rump Kei Taiho himself. Still, at least he would listen to her and do his best for her, but he was inclined to do his best for everybody, that was his nature. She understood that. What she wanted though was someone like Rakushun to be there to teach her about the kingdom she was now supposed to rule. He was in En though, so she relied instead on the man Keiki had chosen to teach her: Enho.

Enho was a good teacher and a good man, all doubts aside and more evidence to the fore. Once she'd settled the rebellion and the corruption, she had naturally asked him to stay on as her teacher, as well as Shoukei and Suzu, who she knew she could trust and would be able to give her different perspectives on the lives of her people and the thoughts of her courtiers. Even with the way she was fixing up Kei, and doing so well at it, she still wished that the mouse were with her.

It wasn't until that last trip to En to visit Enki and Shoryu that her hopes for her own, private life began to bear fruit. Rakushun would transfer from the university in En to the one in Kei. He would be closer, she would be able to see him more often. She was glad when he smiled up at her, she had been worried he wouldn't like the idea.

As they travelled to Kei though, Youko realised another concern. It wouldn't do any good to have him near, to be able to visit him more frequently. What if the professors at the university became aware of it? What if they altered his grades because of their friendship? No, as much as she was glad to have him near, it wouldn't do to visit him so casually. She couldn't ask him to visit the palace easily either. He was busy with his studies after all, and she knew he was uncomfortable in the presence of such blatant snobbish importance – as Youko thought of it.

With a sigh, Youko realised that even with him nearer, she was still mostly restricted to contacting him with letters or the birds that carried his voice to her, and hers back to him. Holidays were the exception, thankfully. During the harvest season, all students were given three weeks to return to their homes and help gather in the crops. Rakushun spent this time with Youko, rather than returning to Kou to see his mother. When she asked him about that, he said that he wrote to her often, and she was proud of him, but things were bad in Kou still, and she didn't want him to come home. Likewise, when Youko offered that his mother could live in Kei, he had explained that she had lived in Kou all her life, and would not leave it now, even as bad as it was.

Three weeks of his company was certainly welcome, but it would have been even more welcome if the assembly broke for those three weeks as well, perhaps to tend to their lands and families. As it was, she was so busy that she barely got to see Rakushun even when he was staying in the guest wing closest to her rooms. Something had to be done if she wanted to enjoy his company for longer than just the evening meal.

She had subtly taken most of the ministers aside and explained to each one about her intentions to take back their privileges of eternal life and youth, hoping that it might get them a bit more interested in their families if they knew that their time was finite. Most of them had not liked the idea, thinking that it signified her intention to remove them from the court, to replace them. She knew that revoking their immortality would lead to their eventual replacement, but that was why people studied at the university. Having the same ministers, with the same ideas, for decades or centuries – and she hoped she was still doing so well five centuries into her reign as Shoryu was – was not necessarily what was best for the kingdom. New ideas were being generated every day, some not always very good ideas, but she wouldn't know that if she never got to hear them.

It had taken some convincing, but eventually she got her ministers to agree to her terminating their contracts of immortality after two decades of service. In their nineteenth year, each minister was to go to the universities in search of someone who could take up their position, train them in the finer points of their job, and present them to the empress for approval. There were a couple of exceptions, Enho for example, as Taishi needed to be around for as long as possible. Suzu's immortality had been controlled by Sei, but was transferred to Kei when she had returned from thanking the empress, and Shoukei had been granted new immortality as well. Both had become Youko's handmaidens, surreptitiously allowing them to know all that went on in the court assembly, and giving them access to Youko at any time, so that they could talk to her as friends or advisers. Every day, she was glad to have them with her.

One day, she'd get the ministers to call her Seikiraku, the name she had chosen for herself, rather than Sekishi, the name that they chose for her. It might take a few changes of ministers yet, but she was determined that it would happen one day. To those closest to her, with the exception of Kei Taiho always, she was just Youko however. Rakushun was the most notable of all those who called her by her own name. Sometimes Suzu and Shoukei called her Youshi, the name she had given when she was among the rebels, and Enho, Enki and Shoryu all used her title in equal amounts with all her different names. Keiki always called her empress or highness. Only Rakushun always called her Youko, which was something else for her to love about him.

She paused, thinking that, her green eyes softening and a barest tinge of red setting a gentle glow to her face. That was the first time, right then, three years into her reign, five years after coming to this world and meeting him, that she had used the word love to describe how she felt about Rakushun, and a small smile crept onto her face as she realised that it was completely true. She did love him.

He was due to arrive from the university tomorrow. She needed to talk to Shoukei. Of all the people she could talk to about this, Shoukei was her best option. Keiki would be too blunt; Enho, great teacher though he was, wasn't the sort of person she wanted to go to for a talk about love; Suzu would be a great friend about it, and very supportive, but she wouldn't know all the imperial complexities involved with such a situation. It had to be Shoukei.

"As empress, you can pray all you want and no riboku will ever bear you a ranka, so you could enter into yagou rather than konin for all the children you will get, and it isn't like you want to move to his land, do you?" Shoukei pointed out, giggling a little as she poured tea for both of them to share while they sorted out Youko's situation.

"But the issue isn't about ranka or location, it's about how the ministers and nobles will react, as well as Rakushun himself, of course," Shoukei mused, sitting back in the chair opposite Youko in one of her thirty-three bedrooms – the only one that she actually used.

"And how do you think they will react?" Youko asked.

"Two main groups will arise. Those who believe that you entering into konin is a sign of stability for the kingdom, you are a taika after all, and if you marry then it will be seen as a sign of you tying yourself to this world completely. On the other hand, there are those who will be concerned that if you enter into konin, or even yagou, you will become weaker to the suggestion of your partner. You will have to prove to these people that such is not the case, whatever you decide."

"It would not be improper for me, as empress, to enter into yagou? Back in Houria, such things are frowned upon," Youko asked, recalling an old lesson from Enho. Konin: union with marriage. Yagou: union without marriage. Empress: will never have a ranka grow on the riboku, but all of her subjects are her children instead.

"I expect they won't be too pleased about it, but this is not Hourai, and many things are different. You are free to enter yagou or konin as you please, as far as your court is concerned. Really, it's up to you and Rakushun, and while I expect he wouldn't mind the quietude of just yagou, I am certain he would appreciate the full formality of konin. He holds a great respect for you after all," Shoukei explained, smiling softly as she recalled her own conversation with the mouse long ago about Youko.

"Even if I am blunt and unfeminine," she added quietly, having had this conversation relayed to her during the night once, when she had introduced the game of truth or punishment to her new friends shortly after they all returned to the Kinpa Palace. The punishments were usually along the lines of painting their nails some atrocious colour, eating something they didn't like the taste of, or having to submit to five minutes of a really bad hair-do. Suzu had surprised Youko and Shoukei both when she asked what it was Rakushun had told Shoukei about the empress that had her believing so firmly in her during the rebellion, before they knew Youshi was Youko.

"You were wearing boys clothes a lot back then, and I think he liked how blunt you were," Shoukei said, waving off the doubts of her friend and empress.

Youka smiled in relief at the reassurance. "I have three weeks to enjoy his company. Maybe I'll be able to broach the subject somehow."

Unfortunately, those three weeks were filled with ministerial assemblies, papers that she had to read, reports she had to review, and requests she had to approve or deny. As previously, the only time she really had with Rakushun was over meals and in the evenings, and the mouse hanjyuu kept the conversation mostly on the kingdom, though sometimes Youko was sometimes able to get as far as how his studies were progressing. He finally admitted that he only had one more season of study before graduation, and Youko privately wondered if she shouldn't hold off mentioning her feelings for him until after, but Rakushun caught the pensive look on her face.

"What's wrong Youko? Did I say something upsetting?" he asked as the lower maids took the empty plates away, their evening meal finished.

"No Rakushun," she said, sighing at how he saw through her so easily. He was the only one who could do that. "Will you walk with me? I think it might be nice to see the stars reflected in the pond," Youko suggested, rising from her chair and indicating the paper screen door that led to the rest of her private residence within the palace.

Rakushun nodded and left the table also, following Youko along the halls and pathways until they reached an enclosed garden that contained simply a miniature willow tree and a pond with a couple of lotus blossoms floating on the still surface. Youko loved this pond for its stillness, the way it reflected the sky so perfectly, and now she sat down on the edge of the wooden walkway that surrounded the small garden, feet dangling over the edge. She waited for Rakushun to sit beside her before she started talking.

"I've learned a lot since coming here," she said. "About this world, and how it's different from Houria. About the different sorts of people that live here, and what's important to them. About myself, how I was and how I needed to change. Every day I'm learning something new. If I'm empress long enough, I suppose that there will come a day when I stop learning, but I kind of hope not. Just the other day, I learnt something new about myself, or perhaps realised is a better word, and as a result learned a few things about the imperial court."

"Oh?" Rakushun prompted.

"The day before you were to arrive here, I realised how much I miss you when you aren't around. How much I care for you, more deeply than as just a friend. As a result of my personal revelation, I sought out Shoukei and learned a bit about konin and yagou as their practises relate to my station."

She had said it, and with such nonchalance that, watching him out of the corner of her eye, Youko saw Rakushun nod calmly before visibly startling as the many potential meanings of her words registered in his mind. Youko saw his whiskers standing straight out, his mouth hanging open, and behind him his tail was straight and rigid behind him. She could almost see his mind churning behind his beautiful golden eyes as he stared at her, wide-eyed.

"H-have you discussed this with any of your ministers? Or Kei Taiho?" Rakushun asked, a slight tremor in his voice.

"I explained my entire situation for Shoukei, since I wanted her opinion on the matter," Youko answered. "But I haven't mentioned it to anybody else. Though I honestly think that Keiki will be relieved, considering the trouble there was when Yo-Ou fell in love with him."

Rakushun nodded, still a little bewildered by the thought.

"W-what conclusion did you reach in your discussion with Shoukei?"

"The ministers will be divided on the matter, but generally my private life if my private life and they'll just have to adjust appropriately to whatever outcome is reached. Actually, it's up to you in the end. I'm not going to force anything on you."

Rakushun was once again stunned, awed, and utterly humbled. The seconds dragged out into minutes as he let the words, their meanings, the entire situation just sink in, process, and when finally his whole mind had caught up, he instantly became aware of the nervous expression on Youko's face, the way her bright green eyes were frantically searching his furry features for some sign that he was going to respond soon.

Gently, he took one of her manicured hands between his two clawed ones.

"Youko," he said, inching slightly closer on his knees. "Once I've graduated at the end of next season, would you do me the honour of entering into konin with me?"

Youko sighed in relief as peace and joy flooded her heart. Bringing her other hand to wrap around his, she smiled and leant her face against his chest fur. "I would be the honoured one, if you would have me," she answered.

Rakushun smiled, blushing slightly under his fur, before chuckling gently. "I'll be finishing my studies, and you'll be getting a crash course in how we conduct weddings. It looks like we have a busy season ahead of us."

Youko nodded, a content smile on her face as she buried herself just a little deeper into Rakushun's fur.

"Is it safe to assume there will be some kind of ceremony? Back in Hourai there was a ceremony involved," Youko said quietly, not moving an inch from where she was against him.

"There is, and because you are empress, you will have to have every minister and noble to attend. I suppose it will be busier for you than for me, as I will be at the university rather than helping you. I'm sorry Youko," the mouse said, stroking long red hair in a comforting gesture.

"It's alright. I'll ask Shoukei and Suzu to help me. Maybe I'll even get Keiki to lend a hand. There's also the minister of religious ceremonies and traditions. Haven't seen him around for a while, but I'm sure this will bring him out of the woodwork again. You just complete your studies, I'll handle everything else, I promise."

Rakushun laughed at that, a clearly restrained laugh, and he squeezed her to him slightly. "On top of being empress every day, also persuading your ministers and planning a konin ceremony. You will sleep deeply every night from exhaustion."

"Or restlessly from all the thoughts buzzing in my mind," Youko answered with a dry chuckle.

For the remaining time that she had with Rakushun, Youko conducted herself as she always had, and he likewise behaved as though nothing were any different, with the exception of their activity after sharing their evening meal. Then, and only then, did they enjoy behaving as two in love, even if very restrained. Holding hands, the occasional embrace, long whispered conversations, a rare kiss from one to the other.

Shoukei and Suzu had been informed the same day she had discussed the matter with Rakushun, and they'd had themselves a few minutes of girlish delight at the prospect of a wedding. Her two best friends had started planning the ceremony that very day, comparing the different customs from the different worlds. None of this planning was official though, however likely it was to be implemented in the ultimate event. Everything would have to be approved by the minster for religious affairs, after all. Before anything went ahead though, she had to talk to Keiki.

Youko diligently kept the amused smile off her face and the chuckle buried deep down so no one would hear it. She imagined her father would wear an expression like this if ever she told him she was dating someone: stunned shock and utter disbelief. Once he got over that initial surprise though, Keiki's behaviour deviated from her expectation of her father's. Her dad would have demanded to meet the boy, would have worried that she wasn't being a good girl. Keiki just looked glad for her, and slightly relieved that he wouldn't be having the same trouble as he had with the previous empress. Then the eternal frown-line returned to his forehead. Youko sometimes wondered if Keiki came out of his seed pod with that same morose expression on his face.

"I cannot bow to him," he said.

"I'm not expecting you to, and neither is he," Youko answered. "If that is your only concern about my entering into konin with Rakushun, then I'm glad."

Keiki looked at her long and hard. "The ministers will have something to say about it."

"Of course they will. They have something to say about everything, but right now I'm only asking what you have to say about it," Youko said.

"Rakushun is good for you, and he will be good for Kei by your side."

"You approve?"

"You do not need my approval."

"I'm asking for it anyway."

"Yes, you have my approval."

Youko smiled.

THE END


End file.
